Five Tips for NaNoWriMo: Week Three

NaNoWriMo’s Lead Forums Moderator, Heather Dudley, helps you light your writing on fire (Hunger Games reference intentional) this week:

Week Three: oh, how I love thee. Week Three is where I slow down, or in some cases, towards the end of the week? Catch on fire again and finish in a blaze of glory.

Here are my 5 tips for surviving the last half of NaNoWriMo:

Change your space.
Get some sleep.
Switch your writing time.
Battle up with word wars and sprints.
Take care of yourself.

NUMBER ONE: Change your space.

If you’ve been writing in the same hole in your house since day one, change it up. Go to a coffee shop. A book store. Heck, I’ve been known to take over the low counter at Waffle House, where there’s no internet and endless fresh coffee. Change your view, change what’s around you. You never know what might inspire you.

NUMBER TWO: Get some sleep.

Sleep? During November? Are you mad, woman? Actually, no! Studies have linked lack of sleep with reduced productivity time and time again. Even losing an hour a night can throw off your circadian rhythms and leave you operating at less than full capacity. Abandon the late-night type-fest, and get some zzzzs. Your brain will thank you.

NUMBER THREE: Switch your writing time.

Are you a night owl? Try writing first thing in the morning. (See number two!) Go to bed an hour earlier, and wake up an hour earlier. Already writing at 7:30 AM? Try writing on your lunch break.

NUMBER FOUR: Word wars and sprints.

@NaNoWordSprints are a great way to boost your word count, fast. If you aren’t a Twitter fan (although you don’t need an account to play along) the Word Wars, Prompts, and Sprints forum is happy to oblige with a dizzying array of options for challenges, prompts, wars, and sprints, around the clock, with participants around the globe.

Don’t feel the social thing? Set a timer for ten minutes, and write furiously for that time period. Do it again, this time trying to beat your own count.

NUMBER FIVE: Take care of yourself.

This one should really be number one, but well, we writers never do things the way others do, right? Take a moment to pamper yourself. November is a crazy busy time for most of us for a variety of reasons. Take some time out of the day for de-stressing. A favorite beverage, a phone call with a good friend, a walk outside (if you’re in a place where the weather permits), a round at the gym, anything.

Do something to take care of your body and your mind. My favorite way to de-stress is to hit the local British tea room. The food is amazing, the atmosphere is delightful, and it makes me feel like I’m walking in the footsteps of the literary giants, scribbling on notebooks in cafes.

So what’s your favorite way of de-stressing during November? Are you a tea, coffee, or [other] kind of person?